{"id":169672,"date":"2008-05-09T16:04:22","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T16:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/microsoft-research-esl-assistant\/"},"modified":"2019-08-19T10:26:24","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T17:26:24","slug":"microsoft-research-esl-assistant","status":"publish","type":"msr-project","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/microsoft-research-esl-assistant\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Research ESL Assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"asset-content\"><span id=\"e2d0c51e-81b5-4066-85b2-0a0022f5ca6e\" class=\"ImageBlock fn\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"Imagee2d0c51e-81b5-4066-85b2-0a0022f5ca6e\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2016\/02\/msreslassistant-esl_assistant_logo.png\" alt=\"\" \/><span id=\"ImageCaptione2d0c51e-81b5-4066-85b2-0a0022f5ca6e\" class=\"ImageCaptionCoreCss ImageCaption\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"en-usprojectsmsreslassistantdefault\" class=\"page-content\">\n<p>The Microsoft Research ESL Assistant is a web service that provides correction suggestions for typical ESL (English as a Second Language) errors. Such errors include, for example, the choice of determiners (the\/a) and the choice of prepositions. The web service also provides word choice suggestions from a thesaurus. In order to help the user make decisions on whether to accept a suggestion, the service displays &#8220;before and after&#8221; web search results so that the user can see real-life examples of the usage of both their original input and the suggested correction.<\/p>\n<p>The web service is currently no longer live, but the error detection and correction components are fully functional and can be revived at any time.<\/p>\n<h1>Team Blog<\/h1>\n<p>News and updates will be provided on <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/eslassistant\">our team blog site on MSDN<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"moray-accordion\" data-show=\"false\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn-group align-items-center mb-g float-sm-right\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\trole=\"group\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-mount=\"collapse-controls\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-bi-aN=\"accordion-collapse-controls\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-target=\"#accordion-1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-link m-0\" aria-disabled=\"false\" aria-pressed=\"false\" data-action=\"expand\" type=\"button\" data-bi-cN=\"Expand all\">Expand all<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span aria-hidden=\"true\"> | <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-link m-0\" aria-disabled=\"false\" aria-pressed=\"false\" data-action=\"collapse\" type=\"button\" data-bi-cN=\"Collapse all\">Collapse all<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"accordion\" id=\"accordion-1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"m-0\">\n\t\t\t<h4 class=\"accordion-header\">\n\t\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-collapse m-0\"\n\t\t\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-mount=\"collapse\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-target=\"#collapse-2\"\n\t\t\t\t\taria-expanded=\"false\"\n\t\t\t\t\taria-controls=\"collapse-2\">\n\t\tTeam\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"collapse\" id=\"collapse-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion-body\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>MSR Core Team<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/mgamon\/\">Michael Gamon<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/chrisbkt\/\">Chris Brockett<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/billdol\/\">Bill Dolan<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/jfgao\/\">Jianfeng Gao<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/lucyv\/\">Lucy Vanderwende<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>External Contributors<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.uiuc.edu\/homes\/klementi\/index.html\">Alexandre Klementiev<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (MSR Summer Intern 2006, 2007)<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"http:\/\/portal.acm.org\/author_page.cfm?id=81100607661\">Claudia Leacock<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"m-0\">\n\t\t\t<h4 class=\"accordion-header\">\n\t\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-collapse m-0\"\n\t\t\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-mount=\"collapse\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-target=\"#collapse-3\"\n\t\t\t\t\taria-expanded=\"false\"\n\t\t\t\t\taria-controls=\"collapse-3\">\n\t\tThe Web UI\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"collapse\" id=\"collapse-3\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion-body\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>The Web UI<\/h1>\n<p>The ESL Assistant has\u00a0a user interface\u00a0that uses the\u00a0Microsoft Silverlight\u2122 browser plug-in.\u00a0 Text to be checked is entered in the box at the top.\u00a0When\u00a0the user clicks the check button,\u00a0potential\u00a0errors are identified and highlighted, and the user can proceed from one highlighted segment to the next, reviewing the possible errors and suggested corrections presented in the box below.\u00a0A pie chart allows the user to compare the approximate frequency distributions of their own input and the suggestions, as\u00a0indexed by the Microsoft Bing\u2122 decision engine.\u00a0When the user hovers their mouse over any of the options available, a dropdown panel\u00a0shows selected usage examples found on the Web.\u00a0Users can explore additional examples by clicking the link at the bottom of the dropdown panel.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\u00a0<span id=\"5236fcc2-0748-4b7c-8249-eaf70301ed8a\" class=\"ImageBlock fn\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"Image5236fcc2-0748-4b7c-8249-eaf70301ed8a\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2016\/02\/msreslassistant-eslassistant.screenshot.v2.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"m-0\">\n\t\t\t<h4 class=\"accordion-header\">\n\t\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-collapse m-0\"\n\t\t\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-mount=\"collapse\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-target=\"#collapse-4\"\n\t\t\t\t\taria-expanded=\"false\"\n\t\t\t\t\taria-controls=\"collapse-4\">\n\t\tMore Details\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"collapse\" id=\"collapse-4\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion-body\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>More Details<\/h1>\n<p>The basic architecture of our system consists of three parts: a set of modules that identify possible corrections, a large language model that evaluates the possible suggestions, and a module that produces search results using Live Search. The individual error modules target specific errors each, and some of these models are based on heuristics, while others use machine learned classifiers. Information that the modules take into account includes the presence of specific words as well as the sequence of part-of-speech tags that are automatically assigned. The language model is trained on the Gigaword corpus, a very large collection of text, and serves as a filter on the suggested corrections: only suggestions that produce a significantly higher language model score than the original user input will be shown to the user.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"3ed1c03c-7de0-4b3d-a802-0b6584b13276\" class=\"ImageBlock fn\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"Image3ed1c03c-7de0-4b3d-a802-0b6584b13276\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2016\/02\/msreslassistant-diagram.png\" alt=\"\" \/><span id=\"ImageCaption3ed1c03c-7de0-4b3d-a802-0b6584b13276\" class=\"ImageCaptionCoreCss ImageCaption\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Microsoft Research ESL Assistant is a web service that provides correction suggestions for typical ESL (English as a Second Language) errors. Such errors include, for example, the choice of determiners (the\/a) and the choice of prepositions. The web service also provides word choice suggestions from a thesaurus. In order to help the user make [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"research-area":[13556,13545,13555],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-169672","msr-project","type-msr-project","status-publish","hentry","msr-research-area-artificial-intelligence","msr-research-area-human-language-technologies","msr-research-area-search-information-retrieval","msr-locale-en_us","msr-archive-status-active"],"msr_project_start":"2008-05-09","related-publications":[157881,159968,152162],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-groups":[],"related-events":[],"related-opportunities":[],"related-posts":[],"related-articles":[],"tab-content":[],"slides":[],"related-researchers":[{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Bill Dolan","user_id":31229,"people_section":"Group 1","alias":"billdol"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Chris Brockett","user_id":31423,"people_section":"Group 1","alias":"chrisbkt"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Jianfeng Gao","user_id":32246,"people_section":"Group 1","alias":"jfgao"}],"msr_research_lab":[199565],"msr_impact_theme":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/169672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-project"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/169672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604218,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/169672\/revisions\/604218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=169672"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=169672"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=169672"},{"taxonomy":"msr-pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-pillar?post=169672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}